The Vatican has granted pontifical coronation of the venerated image of Our Lady of the Abandoned enshrined at her shrine in Muntinlupa City.
A decree dated July 8, 2022, indicates the grant of canonical coronation for the Marian patroness from the Dicastery on Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments.
Father Jonathan Cadiz, rector of the Our Lady of the Abandoned Shrine, said “the people of Muntinlupa, especially the devotees of Our Lady of the Abandoned are delighted to receive the good news.”
“I am looking forward to the further deepening of the people’s devotion to Our Lady and growth in charity for the least, the last and the lost in our society,” he added.
The Our Lady of the Abandoned is patroness of the mother parish of the city, founded in 1863 and was one of the first parishes in the Archdiocese of Manila erected particularly for the Filipino diocesan clergy.
The 40-inch wooden image with heads and hands of ivory has been venerated in the church with the local title “Nuestra Señora de los Desamparados de Muntinlupa.”
The parish church itself was declared an archdiocesan shrine in 1997, the first local shrine of the Manila archdiocese in its former Pasay-Parañaque-Las Piñas-Muntinlupa ecclesiastical district. It was formerly adopted as a diocesan shrine in 2003 when the Diocese of Parañaque was canonically established.
During the 150th anniversary of the parish in 2013, the title Our Lady of the Abandoned was declared as the “Principal Patroness of Muntinlupa City.”
The Diocese of Parañaque in southern Metro Manila now has three pontifically crowned images. The other two are Nuestra Señora del Buen Suceso and Mary Help of Christians, both in Parañaque City.
The coronation rites are yet to be scheduled.
